How microeconomic factors influence Vietnam’s listed manufacturing firm value

Abstract

It is meaningful to identify and quantify the impact of business microeconomic factors on firm value, not only for enterprises, but also for the industry, which contributes to the economic growth of the whole country. This paper aims to find evidence of how microeconomic factors relate to the value of manufacturing firms, helping businesses behave and adjust towards the goal of value maximization. This study applies three commonly used estimators with panel data, namely OLS, FEM and REM, using data obtained from FiinPro (a data providing company) and Vietstock on 691 companies listed on Vietnam’s two stock exchanges from 2008 to 2015; This was a sensitive period of world financial crisis, and Vietnamese manufacturing firms had a really hard time to overcome the difficulty in a global economy downturn. This paper found that (1) firm size, growth opportunities and financial leverage negatively affect firm value; (2) there is no evidence that operating cash flow, cash liquidity and intellectual capital affect firm value; (3) the estimation results confirm the non-linear relationship (order 3) between the directors’ share ownership ratio and corporate value; (4) state ownership and foreign ownership ratios have a negative effect on Vietnamese listed manufacturing firms during the period, but (5) there is no optimal number of BOD members. The findings help to measure the extent of the positive and negative impact of various factors, making it easier to find solutions to improve business value by promoting positive factors and preventing negative factors.

Keywords

• firm value
• impact of microeconomic factors
• ownership
• value-added intellectual capital
• Vietnamese manufacturing firms